The UK Sun interviewed "Stone Cold" Steve Austin a few days ago in a wide-ranging interview on a wide variety of topics. For a link to the audio of this interview, visit the UK Sun

-On repeating digs at Hulk Hogan the last time he was interviewed by the UK Sun: "We're not going to drop him in grease again."

-On his name: "It's just Steve Austin. Steve Austin was the buy who played "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. On Monday Night Raw, you don't roll credits to see who played who."

-On his original wrestling robe, he said the woman from Dallas, Tex. who made it sold it to him for $150 was nabbed for shoplifting all the sequins: "That's the behind-the-scenes story of that robe."

-On a return: "It's not my desire to go back into the ring because I don't feel it would serve any purpose to get me further down the road in terms of my acting career. It takes you a long time to get new." He added that he's having fun in the learning process. He said working with better actors lately has helped raise his game.

-On his movie with Sly Stallone, "The Expendables," he said he filmed half in Brazil and half in New Orleans. Randy Couture was also in it.

-On his feud with Vince McMahon: "Vince and I knew where we wanted to go. We had a conversation, went out there, and let it fly. The reason it worked so well is that he was everything that I was in terms of energy and just belief. The chemistry was just unbelievable. And it worked. The ratings went through the roof, people were buying tickets like crazy. That ad-lib type stuff doesn't really help you in front of the cameras in the movies at all. The fight stuff is obviously different because you make contact in the ring, it's a whole different ballgame."

-On perhaps doing comedy: "I keep my mind open to anything. I just think it's gotta be the right decision to satisfy my Stone Cold fanbase, but I also want to grow a new fanbase... Right now it is something you'd expect to see Steve Austin in. But I want to be able to do everything."

-On turning down "The Marine": "'The Marine' was originally supposed to be my movie. I turned it down. My agent said the movie was going to kill ya'. How can it kill ya' if you don't have movie or a career. It took two years to find 'The Condemned.' That would have been my first movie and I'd have been in the game sooner than I was. That being said, I'm very leery about turning things down. I'll turn down garbage, but I'm open-minded to doing anything. I'd like to do a little bit of comedy or humor. I don't walk around in my life with glass breaking and pushing people down on the sidewalk being a tough guy. I'm laugh my ass off all day, that's pretty much what my life is about." He said he'd feel lucky to do 30 more action movies, too, but he'd like to try something different.

-On his neck: "People ask me how I'm feeling all the time. I can do things these days more people can't. Had that injury not happened, I'd still be in the ring."

-On developing as an actor: "I did 'The Condemned' and didn't have a clue. You really don't know what to draw form. People who are trained actors, what they go through to create the character. In the movie we just filmed, I took another step." He said he's going to be more hands-on going forward with his acting.

-On retirement: "When I got out of the WWE, I retired for three or four years. I hunted, I fished, I drank. Then I hunted, I fished, and I drank. (laughs) I loved doing that, but it doesn't get you anywhere. I love being productive. Sitting on my ranch is one of my favorite things in the world for me to do because I loved being out there and in seclusion and having the whole place to myself, but I love performing and entertaining. I feel I have a lot more entertainment to give. I think there was a reason I was put here. One of those reasons was to wrestle, but that career got cut short. Now I've segued into acting... I'm very intrigued with the whole movie-making process. Bottom line is I'm not ready to stop and hopefully I'm just getting started with the acting."

-On being in front of a live crowd: "The instant feedback, adrenaline rush is like no other vibe you can describe."

-On seeming genuinely happy: "My whole thing on interviews is, do you really know what I do. When people are really interested, I love talking to people who really care and know what's going on."

-On the Hall of Fame ceremony: "That hit me so hard when they did that package for me, it was five or six minutes long, and it really finally after doing everything I did - I know I was hot and I was number one at the time and never rested on what I accomplished there, but that one package helped me understand and really accept my impact and what i really did. People ask me if I miss it, but I can say no... I called the guy the other day who made that Hall of Fame thing for me. It hit me so hard and helped me accept everything. I called him and thanked him for 15 minutes. His name is Adam Denucci and he's one of the best guys in the world."

-On pro wrestling fans: "I never want to alienate my wrestling fans. Being a wrestler got me here. But specifically being 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin in World Wrestling Entertainment gets me pretty much anything I want to. I can get me a meeting, but sometimes it's a good thing, sometimes a bad thing. They think I'm always drunk and going to come in yelling, cussing, carrying a six pack of beer. But I owe everything I am to pro wrestlnig and I love the business still... I TiVo all of the shows." He said he's also a huge Monday Night Football fan, though.

-On returning to WWE TV: "After seeing the Hall of Fame thing, I want to be judicious with my returns to the WWE. I want to be really want to be impactful and make sure it's written good. (laughs) Everyone knows how critical I am of creative."

-On passing the torch to John Cena: "I like John Cena. He's the face of their company right now. He's a hard-working guy. If I was still around, I'd be number one and he'd be number two. I like John Cena. He's just a great kid."

-On the creative direction of WWE: "They've toned it down. You always go for that coveted male demographic. But really they're trying to I think entertain such a large demographic so there's something for everybody, you know, sometimes I think they miss the mark in that respect. As much as the kids and the girls love John Cena, some of the smart fans boo him because they want to boo him. I think he tows the line very well as far as that goes... I just think, you know me, here we go on the creative deal, but as long as you have serious storylines, you can humor, but don't make slapstick comedy. I always think it revolves around the championship belts and a personal issue, but not the stupid personal issues."

-On the success of Austin: "When I turned into Stone Cold, I gave everything I had and I lived, breathed, slept that... People always ask me why was 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin so successful. When I really think about it now, I think it was because the guy was honest, he told the truth, and had a high level of integrity. What I believed in as Stone Cold. I'm not saying it was right for everybody else. I think everything I did on the show was 110 percent the truth. I think when you do that, people buy it, and I did. I took a lot of pride in working stiff and snug. And you couldn't see through my product in the ring. You believed everything I did in the ring was opening that can of whoop-ass."

-On Bret Hart: "I love Bret 'The Hitman' Hart. My match at WrestleMania 13 with him is probably my favorite in my career. Anytime I wrestled him it was a great time. Mutual respect. He's one of the greatest storytellers to step into the ring. I loved working with Bret Hart and I loved Bret Hart the person."

-On Jim Cornette departing TNA: "One of the greatest talkers in the history of the business and a great mind for the business. I think TNA has a few problems. I wish them all the best in the world. As long as there are all good wrestling programs out there, I don't think anyone is going to catch WWE, but it's great for them to have competition... I actually like a lot of what Ring of Honor does. They have a lot of talented workers over there. A guy like Jim is already going to have a job. As long as Jim's been around, as long as I've been around, we haven't crossed paths too much in terms of just hanging around together."

[Steve Austin art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch]

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